Not just Far Cry and Co .: we need more B-tier games!

Not just Far Cry and Co .

Two things, Einstein once said, are true in the universe:

1. Biomutant is not a particularly good game.

2. Lukas Schmid likes it anyway.

If one of the brightest minds in human history sees it that way and also mentions me by name, how should I disagree?

Table of contents

1 Mutant in the Middle 2 Secret ingredient: Love 3 Grandpa Luki talks about back then 4 You think it'll be great Yes, it's true. Even if I see some things a bit less drastically than my dear colleague Michi in his test on Biomutant (buy now € 54.99 / € 59.99), I also think that there is something wrong. The presentation is awkward in an uncomfortable way, the fights are irrelevant to annoying, the role-play elements are not noticeable enough, the story is lame, the tasks are too similar. The beautiful world and a few good ideas are no longer enough to get the adventure out of the mediocrity into which it has probably wandered due to too great ambitions.

Recommended editorial content Here you will find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. But anyway: I like it! And less because of what it is, but because of what I see in it. And that leads me to a type of game that I sorely miss these days.

About the author

Not just Far Cry and Co .: we need more B-tier games! (1) Source: Lukas Schmid Lukas Schmid has been working in various functions at Computec Media and thus at PC Games since 2010, first as an intern, then as a freelancer, then as a volunteer, editor and now as editor-in-chief for pcgames.de, videogameszone. de, gamesaktuell.de and gamezone.de. He loves action, adventure, action adventures, shooters, jump & runs, horror and role-playing games, you can hunt him with strategy titles, most rogue likes and military simulations. Every Saturday at around 9 a.m. he tells you in his column what is annoying or happy about him. Hate comments and love letters are welcome in the comments under the column, to [email protected] or on Twitter to @Schmid_Luki.

Mutant in the Middle

Not only Far Cry and Co .: we need more B tier games! (3) Source: Electronic Arts: middle-class games with a limited budget, often with quite large publishers behind them, who do not necessarily claim to make huge waves, and which come along with new, unused ideas and topics at the same time. You don't see much of that at the moment.

By that I definitely don't mean indie games. Creativity sprays from every pore and new brands are not the exception, they are the rule for you. But there is still plenty of space between indie and blockbuster.

Please don't pin me down on exceptions now, of course there are, for example Biomutant or the famous It Takes Two. In addition, of course, there are enough middle-class games, which are not created with the effort that even the greatest critic Biomutant will not deny.

But not least because of how tremendously the games market has grown in recent years even something like Beyond Good & Evil 2 jazzed up into a blockbuster game; a game whose PS2-era predecessor is pretty much what I mean by B-Tier. No huge budget, a talented team, a new, if not necessarily creative (in this case definitely!), Then a stand-alone IP.

Read also PC PS4 XBO 0

Biomutant: Update 1.4 for download - that's in the first big patch

The first major update is free for Biomutant as a download. In the patch notes you can find out what will change with the update. PC PS4 XBO 0

Biomutant: First major update is coming - what the patch should contain

The first major update is in the works for Biomutant. The developers are giving a first preview of the patch on Twitter. 0

Games Aktuell podcast 667: Biomutant, Far Cry 6, Horizon Forbidden West

This week, the games podcast you can trust is about the fluffy RPG Biomutant, our highly topical preview of Far Cry 6 and Horizon Forbidden West . var lstExcludedArticleTicker = '1373347,1373157,1372989,1372721'; And then Biomutant, a game that was created in a relatively small 20-person studio. Your own new brand? Check? Creative game world? Check? All of this came about on a rather low budget? Check.

Secret ingredient: love

Not just Far Cry and Co .: we need more B-tier games! (5) Source: http://www.ubisoft.com That doesn't excuse the fact that, as I said, the game just isn't that good. But certainly not because of sloppiness or a lack of talent on the part of the makers. They just bit off more than they could chew. And despite the manifold flaws, you can tell at every minute of the game how much love has flowed into it. The cart, the really good figure design, the well thought-out world, all the many ideas that do not come together to a round result, but show that people were working on it who wanted to create something really special.

And this noticeable Creator's enthusiasm has carried me further than I thought. I play, I curse stupid design decisions, but I keep going anyway because, if not the game, then I really like the intention behind it.

Grandpa Luki talks about back then

Not just Far Cry and Co .: we need more B-tier games! (6) Source: youtube.com In the PS2 era, there were so many games of this type, and Biomutant feels like it came straight from that time, with all the good and bad that go with it. I'm sure if it had appeared then it would have been pretty well received. Besides B-tier titles like Legend of Kay, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Kya: Dark Lineage and Tak and the Power of Juju, it shouldn't have been hiding. And not next to B-tier representatives from other genres, such as Timesplitters, Pariah or Project Snowblind.

Jeez, even with something like Onimusha I would argue that it was a B-tier game one day, or a Sony brand such as Siphon Filter (the one from the PS1 era). Back then, these gigantic studios did not exist in the way we know them today, and various teams created iconic series, simply with the intention of creating something great.

Not just Far Cry and Co .: we need more B tier games! (4) Source: Ubisoft If one of the series were revived today, you can be sure that the expectation would be that they would not only appear and be successful, but also become absolute blockbusters, see Beyond Good & Evil 2, but also Psychonauts 2 or (a more recent example) Hellblade 2. The titles then no longer exist in their small middle-class bubble, but as triple A experiences that are supposed to compete with The Last of Us, GTA and Co.

You think that will lace

Which corresponds to what I said: New ideas are rarely found, and then a former B-tier hit is increased to the next blockbuster sow thanks to the nostalgic "Remember this" coloration and through Village driven.

So, beginning with the PS3 era, a real middle-class gamer culture could not really develop, a biomutant could not even orient itself towards what is actually required of him. A game was approached with blockbuster expectations from both the player and the developer side, which actually never asked for such treatment. I'm just speculating now, but if the developers hadn't tried to clumsily make more out of their project than it can be with the excessive expectation of the gamers, maybe we would have gotten a better end product in the end - one that reflects the spirit of the PS2- Era would have successfully pushed into the year 2021.

My other columns

Far Cry 6: Many promises, little behind them - Ubisoft, I no longer trust you

Switch Pro is coming 2021, Starfield too and Sega will buy Microsoft: "Leaks" in the gaming world

Uncharted 5: Wishes for the action adventure for PS5

Gimmick versus Substance: Why It Takes Two Better Than Half- Life: Alyx is

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - this is what a remake for Switch should look like

Not PC and streaming: The future belongs to console gaming

The Power of Sound: How Music Brings Games to Life

Identification With Video Game Characters: A Bizarre Shamrock batte

Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 - 10 wishes to the Switch successor

Live-Service-Games: If it has to be, then please do it right!

Do they all look the same: Why do modern graphic styles get on my back?

Nintendo Switch 2: A flop with an announcement? That is why Nintendo has to be careful ....

Electronic Arts vs. Creativity: In the end, everyone is screwed up

Is violence awesome? Why some games go too far for me ...

Remakes, remasters and reprints are a mistake

Well-known on the PS5: Sony has a creativity problem

Whistle on creativity: Dear developers, steal ideas!

Achievements, trophies and co .: Stop doing stupid tasks!

Realism sucks: Why games should just be games